Not so much a general sports blog as an irregularly updated desperate plea for help.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Top 27 for Oct 21

Top 27 for Oct 21

Below the jumpNo. 27 – York

There is a lot of work ahead. The Lions might even be at a lower point than U of T was at any time.

No. 26 – McGill

What makes McGill’s situation even bleaker is that they play in a league that is becoming the most competitive in the country.

No. 25 – Acadia

On week one of the season Acadia held SMU, and its third string QB, to 344 total yards of offense. It was the team’s best defensive performance of the year.

No. 24 – Toronto

For the Blues, No. 24 is a good year.

No. 23 – Windsor

The Lancers were a team without direction or identity in 2008. As a result they are back to square one in their efforts to become a player in Ontario

No. 22 – Waterloo

The Warriors seemed to get a little better each week and seem poised to battle for a playoff spot in ’09.

No. 21 – Alberta

Something is wrong. The Bears aren’t bad, but…something is wrong.

No. 20 – Mount Allison

Kelly Hughes is having a hell of a season. But, you probably don’t want a situation where your starting QB out gains your top back by 159 yards, like last week against SMU, all too often. Not if you want to be a championship team anyway.

No. 19 – Bishop’s

A nice win last week—and it wasn’t all Lee either (although his 189 yards was a big part of it, obviously). The consistency hasn’t been there for a higher ranking, but BU is still on the fringe of the playoff race with a game to play.

No. 18 – UBC

The Thunderbirds are likely better than their record—there have been a couple close losses in the 2-5 record. But, woulda, coulda, shoulda only goes so far.

No. 17 – McMaster

Good enough for a playoff spot, but not much more. WLU put 50-points on the board two weeks ago. It’s hard to see what will be different in the rematch.

No. 16 – Guelph

An ugly loss—and a Nick Fitzgibbons injury scare—can not be how Guelph wanted to go into the playoffs. They won’t be taking anyone by surprise this year.

No. 15 – St FX

The X-Men seems to be improving. Next week against SMU will be a key measure.

No. 14 – Regina

It’s easy to default to a QB’s play when handicapping—often logical too. With Regina it can come down to Orban. He is, when he is on, good enough to win games by himself. So, far that hasn’t happened enough this year. But, Regina can still play its way into the playoffs.

No. 13 – Ottawa

39-30? To Toronto? Really??

No. 12 – Sherbrooke

Last week’s big loss to Laval had to scare the hell out of the rest of the conference and country. Maybe Sherb’s strength was a bit overstated, but…

No. 11 -- Wilfrid Laurier

Hanging around basically ignored in the OUA, the Hawks have pushed the record to 6-2. It’s a nice building block for the 2009 Yates run. It seems unlikely they can step up to challenge Western or Queen’s this year, however.

No. 10 – Manitoba

They still have to get in, but the champs have played their way back into the conversation—even with the loss to Calgary last week. CanWest is wide open, experience might mean something in the playoffs.

No. 9 – Concordia

An inability to stop Lee last week is troublesome for the Stingers. Are they tough enough to step up in the playoffs? Suddenly, what looked like an underrated team a week ago now seem a bit inflated.

No. 8 – Calgary

The Dinos haven’t punched above their weight class in 2008. They are clearly the third best team in Canada West, but anymore needs to be shown on the field at this point.

No. 7 – Simon Fraser

It’s unclear whether the Clan are explosive enough to win a title, but with a tough loss they proved last week that they deserve to be taken seriously.

No. 6 – Saint Mary’s

The biggest advantage SMU has it that it seems unlikely they will be pushed prior to the Bowl game (although X fans will want to make me eat those words this week).

No. 5 – Western

A really nice win against a tough Guelph team helped to erase some of the doubts that were out there about the ‘Stangs. Remember, statistically speaking, Western played Queen’s a lot closer in the regular season than the final score would seem to indicate.

No 4 – Saskatchewan

It was a gut check kind of win against SFU. And, the type of game that Saskatchewan always seems to win. No one wants to grab a hold of CanWest, so you might as well go with the default.

No. 3 – Montreal

Just a very solid defensive minded football team that seems to be getting a bit better each week. Can they defeat Laval…well, history would suggest not.

No. 2 – Queen’s

Since no one wants to grab hold of the No. 2 spot, I have to bow to the record. 8-0 is 8-0…in any conference. Here’s hoping for Queen’s sake that Giffin’s injury isn’t as bad as some are suggesting it might be and they are able to go into the playoffs at full strength.

No. 1 – Laval

There is an irony to Laval this year. Although it might be the weakest Rouge et Or team in several years, it seems more likely to win the Vanier than at any other time in the past five years. It's just that every other top program has questions this year. And Laval is Laval.

6 comments:

Good list, Duane. I much prefer this week's Queen's-Concordia rankings to last week's. I like Guelph to knock off Ottawa, though. You're bang-on on the CanWest rankings. The main other change I would make is bumping Bishop's up above the likes of SFX, UBC and Mac: having Lee has to count for something, and they looked very good last week. Other than that, I'm pretty much in agreement with the rest of the rankings.

Can't find anything to argue about with DR once again...One point to note - talk around the cooler here is Friesen is hinting he may walk away and let some new blood take a shot at rebuilding a program that has stagnated the last three seasons. And there may be other changes too, considering the improvements by the Dinos and better recruiting of northern Alberta players by the opposition to the south.

As Andrew posted above, looks pretty good top to bottom save for the Gaiters position.

There should be more space between Bishop's and the team right behind them (read: Mount A); taking a look at a common opponent (all hail the interlock!) the Mounties were thoroughly overmatched versus Concordia, whereas BU has played Con U tough (and beat them last weak).

Jamall Lee rightfully gets most of the attention in Lennoxland, but WR Keith Godding - who'll you'll also very likely see in the CFL next year - has had an impressive campaign.

I think Jamall Lee should win the HEC for 2008. Toughest division and he has been the backbone of his team. Many are talking about Mt A's Hughes or Ross or Queens Brannigan or Giffin who are all worthy of the award but Lee has done if for a few seasons now and was the runner up to Glavic in 2007.

The one thing that scarred me about Ottawa is the same thing that Queens is facing DEPTH! I think Western has more depth then Queens and without Giffin (and if Brannigan was to go down) I can't see them beating Western and if they did I really can't see them beating Saint Mary's as they have a bus load of depth at RB's and OL. The rookie QB Jack Creighton is really stating to look good and if Glavic comes back they could be a handful come playoff time.